Paris - Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy defended his proposal for "selective immigration" to France, a plan that has been criticised by Senegal's president as an effort to swipe African minds and talents.
Sarkozy, speaking on prime-time television on Tuesday, said his immigration bill now in parliament was "not a question of pillaging the elites of developing countries."
The minister, seen as a top contender for presidential elections next year, spoke to France-2 TV a day before he was to leave on a two-day trip to Liberia and former French colonies Mali and Benin.
The immigration bill would stiffen the rules for immigrants in France, establish a sort of quota system and let authorities cherry-pick who gets in - such as doctors, computer whizzes or sports stars.
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'I do not train people so that they come develop France' Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade, in Paris to receive a Unesco peace prize, said he opposed the proposal - echoing concerns about the possibility Sarkozy's bill would foster a brain drain from Africa.
"Those who I train should be left to me," Wade said. "I do not train people so that they come develop France."
Sarkozy, asked about Wade's comments, said they were a "misunderstanding" and called for dialogue, but briskly suggested that France's immigration policy was not the Senegalese leader's problem.
"I don't define the condition of immigration to Senegal; it's not up to him either to define the condition of immigration to France," the minister said.
Sarkozy said France "cannot continue to welcome in France all those who want to come - and for whom we don't have either lodging or jobs to offer." - Sapa-AP
France 'cannot continue to welcome in France all those who want to come'.
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